1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to companion doors and their coordinated closing and more particularly to mounting accessories to a door coordinator.
2. Background Information
Companion doors are conventionally constructed with overlapping edges, astragals and rabbeted faces to provide a seal against smoke and fire. Because of this construction of the adjacent edges of doors, the overlapping or active door must be held open until the inactive door is closed. If the active door is closed before the inactive door, the inactive door will not close properly as the adjacent edges of the door will interfere with one another. Door coordinator assemblies facilitate the proper closing of these doors.
Existing door coordinator assemblies, hereinafter just door coordinator 10, as illustrated in FIG. 1 typically include a supporting frame 11 that is mounted in an existing doorframe 12 along the top of a pair of independently moving companion doors 13, 14. The companion doors 13, 14 are mounted to the door frame 12 through hinges 16. The companion doors 13, 14 rotate about the hinges 16 and engage one another along a center line 17 of the door frame 12. An astragal 18 is mounted to one of the companion doors 14 and overlaps the other companion door 13. The astragal 18 covers any gap between the companion doors 13, 14 at the center line 17 of the door frame 12.
FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate a door coordinator 10 in more detail. A hold-open lever 19 is pivotally mounted on the supporting frame 11 so that a free end 20 of the hold-open lever 19 will engage the active companion door 14 adjacent to its hinged edge 21 prior to closing of the active companion door 14. A trigger member 22, pivotally mounted on the support frame 11, controls the movement of a body member 23 that normally holds the hold-open lever 19 in a position engaged with the active companion door 14 so as to keep it in an open position as shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3 the trigger member 22 is moved by the body member 23 in response to closing of the inactive companion door 13. Closing of the inactive companion door 13 manipulates the trigger member 22, which in turn causes movement of the body member 23 such that it no longer holds the hold-open lever 19 engaged with the active companion door 14 thereby permitting closing of the active companion door 14.
Door accessories, such as a parallel arm closer, may be designed to mount to the door frame soffit. When a door coordinator is mounted to a soffit, it often blocks the mounting of any accessories directly to the soffit. However, with the above construction the interior components of a door coordinator 10 provide few options for allowing the insertion of fasteners to secure accessories directly to the door coordinator in place of the soffit. This is further compounded by the fact that door coordinator assembly manufacturers are independent from the door and doorframe manufacturers. As a result, a door coordinator assembly must be retrofitted into a wide variety of door frames, having different soffit widths and depths, which in turn means that the possible locations for fasteners to secure the door accessories to an existing doorframe often dictates that an accessory mounting bracket be employed to secure the accessories.
Current accessory mounting brackets for retrofitting door coordinators are provided as a pair of stair stepped brackets, wherein the door coordinator is received in one of the stair steps of the bracket, with the door coordinator assembly being located between the step of the bracket and the soffit. The accessory mounting bracket is mounted to the doorframe opposite the door. By using the accessory mounting brackets, fasteners can be extended into the brackets to mount accessories without interfering with the internal workings of the door coordinator. Additionally the mounting of the bracket to the doorframe can be shifted to the location where it can be better secured to the doorframe. In addition to the problem of mounting a door coordinator to a wide variety of different soffit heights and widths, the accessory mounting brackets themselves are not necessarily aesthetically pleasing and result in the accessory mounting bracket being mounted in a cantilevered position relative to the fasteners securing the bracket to the doorframe.
FIG. 4 illustrates a typical door coordinator 10 illustrating the use of accessory mounting brackets 24, 25 for mounting door accessories. FIG. 5 illustrates the door coordinator 10 installed on a soffit that is slightly wider than the door coordinator 10 and having a two-step bracket 24 for mounting accessories. FIG. 6 illustrates the door coordinator 10 installed on a soffit that is much wider than the door coordinator and having a single step bracket 25 for mounting accessories.
It would be beneficial to have a system that did not require multiple sizes of brackets for different soffit sizes and that did not have an unsightly appearance in use.